Monday, January 24, 2011

Eighteenth-century comparative novel

This course encompasses a series of readings in the eighteenth-century European novel. Style, narratology, the “rise” of realism and the history of novel criticism will all figure in our discussions; the seminar offers a theoretical rather than a thoroughly historical survey, and should serve as groundwork for considering questions about style and the novel in other periods and national traditions.

Franco Moretti, from The Way of the World: The Bildungsroman in European Culture, as excerpted in Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach, ed. Michael McKeon (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins UP, 2000), 554-65.

Ian Watt, from The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding, as given in Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach, ed. Michael McKeon (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins UP, 2000), 363-381.

About Me

I have published four novels and two books about eighteenth-century British literature; my latest book is "Reading Style: A Life in Sentences." I teach in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.